Metal Gear Solid 5 Is 720p On Xbox One, 1080p On PS4

All last gen systems, including the Xbox 360 and PS3, will be running Metal Gear Solid V at 720p and 30 frames per second, as announced by Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear. Oh yeah, and the Xbox One will also be running Metal Gear Solid V at 720p... so it could match its little brother, the Xbox 360.

As noted on Metal Gear Informer, the news came hard and cold like a bad break-up before Valentine's Day, but just like street corner comfort that you can buy for $20 later into the night, the pretty screenshots more than make up for the fact that anyone paying $500 for the Xbox One is getting an inferior port of the new generation stealth-espionage title.

As taken from the official Metal Gear Solid Website, the resolution and framerate details for each system that will run the upcoming game are listed and detailed below:

My goodness, the spirits of the Xbox One crowd must be broken in half about now. What a massive blow.

The PS4 is running the game at twice the resolution of the Xbox One. That means it will contain twice the clarity and sharpness over last-gen consoles and the Xbox One.

On the upside, at least the Xbox One can run the game at 60 frames per second, as it would be downright embarrassing if it didn't. So you're at least paying $500 for 30 extra frames over the Xbox 360 version, assuming you feel that's worth the time or investment.

Added to this: The new Fox Engine has MGS V looking good on all the consoles, including the geriatric twins. The highlight is that no matter what system you buy the game for, it will look good. The downside is that the only console to run the game at native1080p and 60 frames per second is the PlayStation 4.

Now I know some people might say graphics don't matter, but it does call into question the purpose of upgrading to new hardware if it's playing games the same as the old hardware. Right?

Then again, if jaggies don't bother you and you can do without a clean, smooth running game, you know which system to get.

Funnily enough, creator Hideo Kojima feels that all this fanboy pettiness is petty. He disregards the importance of resolution viability and frame-rate consistency, with DualShockers spotting the tweets the legendary designer sent out following the revelation that Metal Gear Solid V on the Xbox One would, indeed, follow suit in the footsteps laid out so infamously by CBOAT, saying...

I couldn't go back to current gen after playing on PC.

But anyway, it does call into question how anyone can continue to defend the Xbox One outside of its exclusives, because it's now relegated to running multiplatform titles in equivalent resolutions to previous generation consoles. In other words, if you have an Xbox 360 or PS3, you're not really getting much of an upgrade for the extra $500, unless you feel some added ambient occlusion, shadow details and light reflections make up the difference? Then again, at equivalent resolutions, it's sometimes hard to spot the more subtle graphical improvements. Even worse yet is that the PS3 and 360 even handle TV on your TV better than the Xbox One, with the exception of the 360 lacking a Blu-ray drive.

I'm sure Microsoft's executives have a pitch to sell to compensate for the news, but so early on in the generation we're already seeing that the PS4 is offering more features for less money. Maybe Microsoft will be able to convince Kojima and crew to throw in some Kinect-only features to help balance the tide, eh?